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PhullD Build Page - Now Fully Locked!

106K views 504 replies 56 participants last post by  PhullD 
#1 · (Edited)
Intro Comments: I wanted something more capable than a car that wouldn't fall apart driving on our deteriorating roads, especially in the Winter. I always enjoyed going off-road on FSR's or deactivated roads when I was working in Northern B.C. and decided I was going to get back into it with this Xterra. The mods have happened a LOT faster than I was prepared for haha!

Username: PhullD

Purchased: August 2015

Make: Nissan
Year: 2015
Model: Xterra
Trim: Pro-4X, 6MT "Limited" :laughing8:
Color: Super Black

October 20th, 2018


MODS

Armor:

Shrockworks Front bumper with flip plate
Shrockworks front skid
ARB Diff Cover
Black Widow Gear (BWG) aluminum tranny, t-case and gas tank skids
Hefty aluminum engine Skid
White Knuckle Sliders
Rear shock skids
Maxterra rear bumper

Lighting:
Lamin-X yellow fog light covers
Diode Dynamics XML2 fog lights
AUXBeam X Series 22 inch light bar (rear)
Diode Dynamics Reverse LED's
LED pods in rear bumper

Misc. Exterior Mods:
Auxiliary Gas Tank (19gal)
Rear Hatch Adjustment Mod
X-tec Fender Flares
Smittybilt X2O 10,000lb Winch with Wireless Controller
Synthetic Winch Line
Diff Breather Mod
175lb Rear Hatch Struts
Daystar D-Ring isolators
Front window tint on pass and driver's sides (35%)
Maxterra Roof Rack

Interior/Electrical:
Maxterra rear cargo shelf (currently removed)
Fog Light Mod
Midland 75-822 CB Radio, heavy duty stud and Wilson 4ft flexy on the tire carrier
WeatherTech Floor Mats (front, second row and rear)
Nissan Navara illuminated shift knob (no longer illuminated lol)
ABS Off mod
Replaced Interior Bulbs with LED's
Diode Dynamics Interior LED Kit (with one in center console)
BlackVue 650 2CH Front and Rear Cameras with Parking Module
Raingler Barrier Net
Raingler Grab Handles
Raingler Hatch Bag
Raingler custom ceiling net
Blue Sea 5026 ST panel
Blue Sea waterproof 90amp circuit breaker
Toyota 800 series switches in amber with ABS Off, Interior Lights, and Rear Lights
Clutch adjustment mod
ARB CKMA12 compressor
ARB inflation/adaptor kit
4Crawler 4-tire inflation/deflation kit
Redlinegoods extended leather shift boot
ARB Fridge/freezer 12volt plug
ARB 37qt Fridge/freezer with transit bag
Autometer gauge and transfer switch for auxiliary tank

Engine/Drivetrain:
Stock engine
Tom Woods double cardan driveshaft
Femco Quick Oil Drain
Rugged Rocks 180a alternator
Bully Dog 40417 GT
Airflow Snorkel
AEM high flow filter (for the cleanable aspect)
Added Nissan engine cover (should have come with IMO)
Re-geared to 4:56 (F*** YEAH!)
ARB front locker

Suspension
1/2" strut spacers
SuperPro poly steering rack bushings
Titan LCA's
SPC Titan UCA's
Titan swap Radflo 2.5" with 650lb springs
Alcan springs +800lbs and 3" of lift
Rear Radflo 2.5" remote res shocks
Bora 2" wheel spacers (rear)
2" AC body lift
Stainless front and rear extended brake lines
PRG Shackles
Timbren offroad bumpstops
Grease fittings on Alcan spring eyelets

Wheels and Tires Brakes:
(4 plus a spare on stock p4x rims) 315/75R16 BFG KO2's (great tire)
HAWK LTS pads all around

Removed or Sold:
265/75R16 Hankook Dynapro AT's on Steelies (Ok winter tire for road/mild offroad, wish it was tougher)
285/75R16 Khumo KL71 Road Venture M/T (Terrible, worst warranty and company, never buy these)
Diamond K400 Antenna Mount
Two ARB type 9 inch 320w (27k Lumen) pods (front) with ARB Intensity (Amber) Lenses
Wilson 4' Antenna
Xterra SPC UCA's
Nisstec 2 inch lift top spacer with AAL
OME MD springs
Removed Rear Sway Bar
Removed Front Sway Bar
Raingler Rear Roof Net
Mud guards
Hella black magic lights
Volant Intake
OEM leaf pack and AAL
Hellwig EZ-550 helper springs
XTP Intake Manifold Spacer
Rex Rug Mod

On the Go:
Rust prevention/correction
MT's

Future Plans?:
Offroad trailer rebuild


PHOTOS

Snorkel


35's mounted July 4th, 2017:


Post T-swap June, 2017


Post BL May, 2017


Before BL March - April, 2017- OME springs on stock Bilsteins, spacers, AAL and PRG shackle.


Stock, Day 1 :)



I will post more as it progresses.
 
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#268 · (Edited)
Started it up, turned on the lights and smoke was coming out of my instrument cluster area! I pulled over and immediately shut everything off. Smoke stopped. Popped the hood and cut the power to my accessories. Started it back up with no lights on, seemed ok. Turned on the lights and smoke resumed. Immediately turned it back off and disconnected the fog light bypass source at the battery. Started it with lights on, no smoke.

My guess is something in the fog light bypass has gone wrong. The fog lights were still working amidst my checking so I'll have to rip apart the steering column panels and such to diagnose. All the work I've done goes through the fuse panel so it seems it has to be the fog light mod.

The fog light bypass was done a couple years ago by a friend with me assisting since I was a complete electrical noob at the time, and had no tools to do any electrical work. I hope nothing was damaged, would be a real setback for this summer.
 
#269 ·
My guess was wrong. The dimmer circuit had already died, I just didn't notice none of the rocker switches and center console buttons had no illumination. I tapped the offroad lights' dimmer circuit and ran that to my other rocker switches over a year ago. Everything was fine. I then ran the shift knob to this circuit and it seemed fine for a few months. I don't know why it took so long for things to just go like this. I made sure all my grounds were still good and they were, fuses are all good. There is no visible damage on any of taps or wires to and from the offroad lights switch. The LED's from my auxiliary switches shouldn't draw enough power to cause any issue. I have no freaking clue where the factory harness went so I'm screwed I guess. I checked the service manual but it is like a different language in the electrical section, no idea what to look for.

Guess Nissan will get my money this time fixing my handy work :(
 
#270 ·
So it turns out there was a fault in the shift knob. The design of the shifter is such that the wires for illumination are left "pinched" between the shaft and shift knob. Upon tightening the 3 screws for the knob it "chewed" through the insulation and sent power down the ground, essentially sending 12V power down the circuit and blew out the module in the gauge cluster (where the smoke came from).

Nissan charged me 2 hours to find the culprit and bypassed the ground to the module as a temporary fix but now there is no dimming capability. The module is not separate from the gauge cluster so I have to buy the whole cluster to return the dimmer functionality to the switches in my Xterra. Two hours at $158 CAD + $590 CAD for the cluster when the time comes means this "flare" piece cost me nearly $1000 for nothing! @VMBiohazard if you connect power to yours, notch out the ring or something so this doesn't happen to you.
 
#272 ·
AND a pic of why I am disappointed with it. Like it was 5pm and they just called it quits for the day
Reminds me of a story about a friend who had dental work done in the Navy. 5pm came along and they called it a day. They didn't finish up until after he got back from leave.
 
#277 ·
It's not easy and probably readily disabled but... The Blackvue dashcams can be tracked over the cloud provided the vehicle has a cellular hotspot in it. That means monthly fee, but it's an option. Something I'm contemplating after I get the dual battery in.



Similar might be get a cheap burner cellphone that you can track and hide it in the vehicle somewhere and always connected to power so it remains charged?
 
#279 ·
Somewhere I heard the suggestion to get an old iPhone 4-5 with the Find my Phone on it and hardwire a cable to it and hide it. You'd have to pay for another phone line which would be 10-20$ but an interesting option though.
 
#280 ·
Yeah that's what I'm thinking too.



The only extra thing the dashcam gives is you can tap into the video and audio remotely as well, but presumably they disable those as soon as they lift the vehicle. That said, it can stream to cloud so you'll already have the video on the server from when they broke in. (Eats up data plan though unless the vehicle is within wifi reach at the time it's stolen.)
 
#281 · (Edited)
The way I see it, there are two kinds of thieves. The first type are opportunists. They range from dumb idiots that want to break in for things like your GPS units, stereo, loose change etc. to slightly more organized thieves that can figure out how to steal the entire vehicle and have a small network of people to sell parts to. The latter is quite rare for Nissans because the security is harder to defeat and the black market is much smaller than the Jeep world, but these are the people that will strip it in stages, move it from place to place, or joyride/commit a crime with the vehicle.

The second type are your professional thieves. These are the ones with all the knowledge about defeating tracking systems and are the people that ship your vehicle off on ship containers to their clientele overseas. They easily disable GPS and phone network connections by covering the vehicle with some sort of tarp or whatever when it is brought back to a chop shop or shipping container. You have a very limited time to find the vehicle before it is gone for good or chopped up beyond recovery.

From what I gathered Lojack seems to be the best bet for the second type of thief. It uses radio frequencies and doesn't rely on phone or GPS networks. The Lojack systems are harder to defeat and they are closely associated with police forces, allowing for a greater chance of vehicle recovery. The price though $600-$1000!!!!

I'm torn because I do sometimes go to places where the second type thieves exist (Montreal). I went to check out of my hotel one morning and a lady was at the front desk on the phone with the police. Thieves had stolen her SUV and the boat it was towing right out of the lot at around 5:30am. Another time I talked to a factory worker who bought a Dodge SRT 10 pickup when they were brand new (I worked at a Dodge dealership one summer before university). He parked in right in front of the security camera which was on a 2min rotation. The thieves pulled up beside it and by the time it cycled around both vehicle were gone.

I also worked in Prince George BC where 80-150 trucks a month are broken into or stolen (population varies season to season but approx 60-80k people). One infamous story was a guy bought a brand new snowmobile and parked at a wendy's with the tailgate against the wall. The thieves, in broad daylight, pulled the snowmobile over the cab and then hood, down into another pickup bed. The owner saw them and ran out after as they were just taking off, he was only in the restaurant a few minutes....no insurance on the snowmobile yet. I've heard they easily disconnect driveshafts and such to move vehicles away from walls. Also my geophysics team had all 4 of their 4wheelers stolen, trailer and all in the middle of the night on a busy street.

***Update***

We decided to pass on the Lojack since the type two thieves I described above are probably not an issue for me, especially since I'm not in a high crime area and not anywhere near any seaports or borders, and I drive a Nissan and not a Jeep. Instead we will get the $10/month plan with my dashcam which lets us GPS track the vehicle, dowload footage over the cloud, get notifications and allows us to live feed and talk using my ipad....which is kind of cool.
 
#282 ·
In other news, there is a guy selling a 2010 Xterra SE for $700 CAD. I asked him a few questions and this was the info:

The X was parked about a year ago (I had it running about 9 months ago).. It was getting to the point where the cost to get the e-test renewed was going to be too costly, so I ended up getting a new Explorer.

Work needed:
Cracked Windshield
small hole in roof (rust) by front windshield
rear drivers side leafe spring broken
Needs passenger side Cat converter
Needs Tires
Brakes at about 60%

Recent work done:
New Radiator (3 months before parking)
New Battery (2 years) (Interstate which has a no questions asked exchange policy, no receipts needed)

Has Extras:
Solid Steel roof rack
Solid Steel internal rear rack.


As long as the cats were not blown with debris ruining the engine, this should be an easy resto. I'm hoping the steel roof rack is dephep/gobi and the rear cargo rack is another "name" brand since it will pay for the truck, but with my luck it will be a Yakima Walmart rack. Will update this when I get a mileage and pics.
 
#283 ·
Today I tested the Camera cloud functions.

GPS tracking works like a charm. I'm currently testing to see how much data the mobile hotspot will use over 24hrs to get a monthly estimate. I need to find time for the dual battery setup if I go this route.

For kicks I went to live view and talked to my fiance in the truck from the apartment, it was pretty funny; "hey ass**le, bring back my truck!" came in nice and clear and I could hear her laughing in the stream.
 
#285 ·
You can check out the app if you want. It's called Blackvue cloud. I don't remember if you need to make an account first or not (just email for confirmation) but you can see all the people live streaming their camera feeds and hear them too. I was watching an Uber in Australia haha!

I won't be live streaming/viewing mine very much, it is about 40mb per minute depending on a couple factors. The GPS tracking though is less than 1mb per day. I just need to decide on a mifi or something for the hotspot.
 
#300 ·
Interesting... So you figure the stock alternator would struggle with dual batt? The read I was getting around here was that it would be okay, but depending on what's on the truck. You've got a lot more gear so I guess I could see it being more demanding. My plan was to just go dual and see how it holds up, and hope the stock alty is okay for me. The full time dashcam is my motivation as well, my Cellink battery just doesn't last long enough.

Liked your comments about the better shifts with the 180A alty tho!!
 
#301 ·
All I know is that I've had problems with batteries and the charging system for as long as I've had the truck and it has to do with how I use it 100%. I've winched on the stock battery and the stock charging system never brought it back to full health afterwards, the amps the stock alternator puts out were just too low under normal driving conditions.

Last summer I was driving home after wheeling and the whole system went dead while I was on the road. I pulled over with the momentum left and checked the terminals and so on. Everything looked fine and it started fine. I'm convinced it was a short in the battery and decided to go with an AGM when the stock one died. Well it died last winter, prompting me to go dual AGM batteries with a RR alternator. The AGMs like a slightly higher voltage so the RR one is a perfect fit. Again, you battery might be fine, but my stocker was garbage.

If you don't have a winch and have a decent commute to charge the main after starting, I don't see why the stock alternator wouldn't be ok if you are running lead acid batteries. Especially if you are running the camera off the accessory battery.
 
#302 ·
Holy cow, that's brutal... :sad7: Hopefully the 180A does the trick then!



I was just looking at the FSM section for the charging system... It's more elaborate than I expected. The ECM monitors the battery and decides what charging voltage should be applied by the alternator, and then sends that command via the IPDM/ER to an IC Regulator in the alternator. It says it works this way in the name of "fuel economy". That suggests to me that it may not be optimal for the hard usage all the time. You may need max effort recharging but it may not be giving it. (Or, it's just got a bug somewhere...)



That makes me wonder, when you put in the 180A, does it just drop into the charging circuit in the same spot at the old one? Like it doesn't have any extra wiring of its own? If so, I wonder if it just ignores the command signal from the IPDM/ER and delivers max grunt all the time, skipping the whole fuel economy game?
 
#303 ·
If you scroll through the thread about the RR alternators, there is an adapter plug that comes with it. It bypasses the OEM regulator and instead allows the charging system to run off the RR alternator's regulator...like virtually every other vehicle before the inception of this backwards charging regime.
 
#307 ·
Had my clubs annual meet-up this weekend. Didn't get a lot of pictures this year and not too many photographer types in the groups I went out with.

I finally realized how f'ing terrible the rear leaf pack and shocks have gotten on the 2nd last run of the event. They weren't doing much to dampen. Clearing an obstacle in front would be fine, then the back would bang on the bumpstops and/or bounce us left and right, up and down.

The last run I jumped in buddy's 94 Pathfinder for a trail and the rear would clear an obstacle as you'd expect, some articulation but very controlled and dampened. He also runs the 5125's in the rear. My gf was riding passenger in a 1st gen on the same run and she said it was much better than ours. I knew the OEM leafs weren't great, but not this bad. My 3 year old truck with its 1.5 year old 5125 shocks is noticeably WORSE than a 94 Pathfinder and 1st Gen Xterra LOL! Time to rip it all out and get some better quality back there!



Lunch break


Another member with a 2" lift parked beside me when I was at the grocery store
 
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